Library to be honored

The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities will recognize the Morehouse Parish Library at it's annual awards event April 6 in Darrow. Ellen Highsmith, library director for the Main Branch of the Morehouse Parish Library, will receive an award for hosting an adult library reading program and for the attendance the program drew...

“We had an incredible group of people at these programs,” said Highsmith. “This was partly because of the quality of the material, partly because of the scholar, Georgiann Potts, and partly because of the synergy among the attendees themselves. Morehouse can be very proud of the response of our patrons at these programs.”

Potts was honored in 2011 by the LEH for her individual achievement in humanities.

A retired literature teacher from the University of Louisiana at Monroe, Potts, of Monroe, had lead 15 programs in six subjects since 2003.

The Morehouse Parish Library has previously sponsored most of the programs offered through the RELIC program, including Louisiana Characters:, I’ll Be Seeing You…America and World War II, Where is North Louisiana?, Folktales and Stories of the South and Louisiana and The Creole Identity and Experience in Louisiana Literature and History.

The reading programs have been held in 63 of the 64 parishes of Louisiana since 1983. The scholar-led reading sessions have attracted an attendance of over 103,000 people in over 118 different libraries across the state.

“From all accounts, RELIC is the most widespread and well-attended series of reading projects in the South,” said Jim Segreto, director of RELIC.

“The Morehouse Parish Library has certainly done its part to bring the humanities to the people of Louisiana,” said Michael Sartisky, President/Executive Director of the LEH. “Librarians who make the effort to bring quality programs into their communities deserve to be honored,” he said.